Website and social media usage : implications for the further development of wine tourism, hospitality, and the wine sector

This study examines winery entrepreneurs' usage of websites and social media. Italian, Spanish and "New World" wineries, the majority (84%) of them currently involved in wine tourism, were selected. The findings demonstrate that wineries are not fully exploiting the potential benefits of a website, and much less so that of social media. More importantly, facing increasing competition from other wine regions and tourist destinations, wineries may be foregoing opportunities to strengthen their region's destination image. Implications of the findings for wineries' promotional, marketing, and other business development strategies designed to draw and "convert" visitors to their brand are discussed.